TOP 10 Countries by NEET Rate among Youth
When we talk about youth not in employment, education or training (NEET), the focus usually falls on crisis cases with very high rates. In this section, we do the opposite: we highlight countries that keep NEET rates for 15–24-year-olds at the lowest levels worldwide, and then compare them with worst performers to show how large the gap really is.
What the NEET rate actually captures
The NEET indicator is often confused with “youth unemployment”. In reality, it is broader: it counts all young people who are not working and not learning. This includes:
- Unemployed youth actively looking for a job.
- Discouraged young people who gave up searching.
- Inactive youth doing unpaid care work or other non-market activities.
Who sits at the very bottom of the NEET ranking?
Based on the latest ILOSTAT and OECD values around 2023–2024, extrapolated to 2025, the countries with the lowest NEET rates among 15–24-year-olds are predominantly northern and western European economies plus a few high-income outliers.
In this analysis we focus on an indicative Top 10 with the lowest NEET rates: the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Austria and Czechia. In all of them, the share of young people who are neither in work nor in education or training remains below roughly 7 %.
What the lowest-NEET countries tend to have in common
Despite big differences in size and economic structure, the countries with the lowest NEET rates share several institutional features:
- Strong vocational pathways. Countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Austria rely heavily on dual apprenticeship systems that combine school and work-based learning and offer clear routes into stable jobs.
- Universal upper-secondary completion. Early school leaving is rare. Completion of upper-secondary education has become the norm, which sharply reduces the risk of drifting into inactivity.
- Active labour-market policies for youth. Public employment services, youth guarantees and tailored counselling support quick re-entry into work or training after spells of unemployment.
- Relatively narrow gender gaps. While inequalities remain, female NEET rates in these countries are only slightly above male rates, unlike in high-NEET countries where women, especially with low education, are over-represented among NEETs.
In the next blocks we move from narrative to data: first the tables with approximate 2025 figures, then charts showing how NEET rates evolved between 2005 and 2025 in selected countries.
Table 1. NEET rate among youth (15–24), Top 10 countries with the lowest values, 2025
Approximate NEET rates for 15–24-year-olds in 2025, based on the latest ILOSTAT and OECD data around 2023–2024. Values are rounded and intended to illustrate the order of magnitude for countries with very low NEET incidence.
| Rank | Country | NEET rate 15–24, % |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Netherlands | ≈ 3.8 |
| 2 | Norway | ≈ 4.2 |
| 3 | Iceland | ≈ 4.5 |
| 4 | Switzerland | ≈ 4.9 |
| 5 | Sweden | ≈ 5.3 |
| 6 | Denmark | ≈ 5.5 |
| 7 | Germany | ≈ 6.1 |
| 8 | Japan | ≈ 6.4 |
| 9 | Austria | ≈ 6.7 |
| 10 | Czechia | ≈ 6.9 |
Interpretation. All ten countries keep youth NEET rates below roughly 7 %. That means more than 93 % of young people are either studying or working at any given moment, a level of engagement few middle- or low-income countries can match.
Table 2. NEET rate among youth (15–24) by sex and education, selected countries
Approximate NEET rates by sex and education group in four illustrative countries. For each country, rows show NEET rates for men, women and youth with low vs medium/high education. Values combine ILOSTAT and OECD patterns around 2023–2024 and highlight typical gaps.
| Country | Group | NEET rate, % |
|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | Men | ≈ 3.5 |
| Netherlands | Women | ≈ 4.1 |
| Netherlands | Low education | ≈ 7.5 |
| Netherlands | Medium/high education | ≈ 2.5 |
| Germany | Men | ≈ 6.2 |
| Germany | Women | ≈ 5.9 |
| Germany | Low education | ≈ 11.0 |
| Germany | Medium/high education | ≈ 4.0 |
| Japan | Men | ≈ 5.8 |
| Japan | Women | ≈ 7.0 |
| Japan | Low education | ≈ 9.5 |
| Japan | Medium/high education | ≈ 4.4 |
| Italy | Men | ≈ 15.0 |
| Italy | Women | ≈ 18.0 |
| Italy | Low education | ≈ 24.0 |
| Italy | Medium/high education | ≈ 10.0 |
Two key gaps stand out. First, even in low-NEET countries, young people with low education are two to three times more likely to be NEET than their better-educated peers. Second, in countries with much higher NEET levels, such as Italy or Türkiye, the gender gap widens: young women are systematically more likely to be out of both work and education.
Chart 1. Youth NEET rate (15–24), Top 10 countries with lowest values, 2025
The bar chart below visualises the same Top 10 from Table 1. Differences may look small on paper — all under roughly 7 % — but they still reflect thousands of young people per country who are either connected or disconnected from jobs and education.
Reading tip. Even between the Netherlands and, say, Czechia, a difference of three percentage points can mean that one extra out of every thirty young people is NEET rather than engaged in work or study.
Chart 2. NEET rate among youth (15–24), 2005–2025, selected countries
To understand how countries achieved low NEET levels, it is useful to look at long-term trends. The chart follows four cases: two of the best performers (Netherlands, Norway), a low-NEET but non-European country (Japan) and a higher-NEET contrast country (Italy).
While all four saw NEET rates spike slightly around the global financial crisis or the COVID-19 shock, the best performers have kept the indicator on a gentle downward path. In Italy, by contrast, the rate remains roughly three to four times higher than in the Netherlands, despite improvements since the early 2010s.
Context. High-NEET countries like South Africa, Türkiye or Colombia would sit even higher on this vertical scale, often above 25–30 %. For clarity, the chart keeps the focus on one mid-range country (Italy) and three low-NEET achievers.
Data sources and methodology
- ILOSTAT (International Labour Organization), Youth labour statistics and NEET indicators , including NEET rates for 15–24-year-olds by sex and education level.
- OECD, Education at a Glance and OECD Data portal , series on youth not in employment, education or training (NEET) for member countries and partners.
- Eurostat, Statistics on young people neither in employment nor in education or training , providing detailed NEET indicators for EU countries by age band and sex.
- World Bank gender and jobs data, Share of youth not in education, employment or training (% of youth population) , used for cross-checking levels and trends outside the OECD.
- National statistical offices (for example Statistics Netherlands, Statistics Norway, Japan’s Statistics Bureau and ISTAT in Italy) for recent NEET estimates and youth labour-market reports around 2023–2024.
